Take a swim to keep fit and healthy
Home Instead Senior Care in Warwickshire reminds you that February is National Heart Month and would like to share ten tips for keeping a healthy heart.
1. Stop smoking. Quitting smoking is the single most important thing a person can do to live longer. If you are a smoker, you are twice as likely to have a heart attack as a non-smoker. But from the moment you stop smoking, the risk of heart attack starts to reduce. With public smoking bans now widely in place, there has never been a better time to give up.
2. Cut down on salt. Too much salt can cause high blood pressure, which increases the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Avoid foods like crisps, salted nuts, canned and packet soups and sauces, baked beans and canned vegetables, pork pies, pizzas and ready meals. Many breakfast cereals and breads that appear healthy also contain high levels of salt, so keep your eye on these too.
3. Watch your diet. A healthy diet can help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease, and can also help increase the chances of survival after a heart attack. You should try to have a balanced diet containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, oily fish, starchy foods such as wholegrain bread, pasta and rice. Avoid foods like biscuits, cakes, pastries and dairy products that are high in saturated fats and sugar.
4. Monitor your alcohol. Too much alcohol can damage the heart muscle, increase blood pressure and also lead to weight gain. Binge drinking will increase your risk of having a heart attack, so you should aim to limit your intake to one to two units a day.
5. Get active. The heart is a muscle and it needs exercise to keep fit so that it can pump blood efficiently around your body with each heartbeat. You should aim for thirty minutes of moderate intensity exercise a day. If this seems too daunting, start off gently and build up gradually. Keeping fit not only benefits your physical health - it improves your mental health and wellbeing too.
6. Manage your weight. The number of people who are overweight in Britain is rising fast - already more than half of the adult population is overweight or obese. Carrying a lot of extra weight can greatly affect your health and increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. If you are overweight or obese, start by making small, but healthy changes to what you eat, and try to become more active.
7. Get your blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked by your GP. The higher your blood pressure, the shorter your life expectancy. People with high blood pressure run a higher risk of having a stroke or a heart attack. High levels of cholesterol in the blood - produced by the liver from saturated fats - can lead to fatty deposits in your coronary arteries that increase your risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and diseases that affect the circulation. You can help lower your cholesterol level by exercising and eating high-fibre foods such as porridge, beans, pulses, lentils, nuts, fruits and vegetables.
8. Learn to manage your stress levels. If you find things are getting on top of you, you may fail to eat properly, smoke and drink too much and this may increase your risk of a heart attack.
9. Check your family history . If a close relative is at risk of developing coronary heart disease from smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, obesity and diabetes, then you could be at risk too.
10. Make sure you can recognise the early signs of coronary heart disease . Tightness or discomfort in the chest, neck, arm or stomach which comes on when you exert yourself but goes away with rest may be the first sign of angina, which can lead to a heart attack if left untreated.
· Health tips from the British Heart Foundation
We really care about the clients we serve across the county of Warwickshire. They live in Stratford upon Avon, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Kenilworth, Shipston on Stour and the surrounding villages.
Our clients know that we turn up at the agreed time, send the same person and have an absolute focus on quality of service. We know we are different because every day our clients tell us so!
Home Instead’s services can include personal care such as assistance with bathing, dressing and medications; home help covering housework, shopping, meal preparation and household duties; and companionship services that can involve everything from escorting clients on visits or appointments to simple conversation and good company. A range of specialist services, which include Alzheimer’s and dementia care, convalescence care and respite care is also available.
If you too would like care like this, all you have to do is call us on 01789 20 40 40 or 01926 62 90 30
